


Could've Been a Jedi

by ambiguously



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon, Sassy K-2SO (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26608798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: They say the first Fulcrum was a Jedi.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/K-2SO
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30
Collections: Fic In A Box





	Could've Been a Jedi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nununununu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nununununu/gifts).



They say the first Fulcrum was a Jedi. They say a lot of things, though, and Cassian learned long ago not to believe most of them. They say some of the Jedi survived the massacre when the Empire rose. They even say a few of them worked with the Rebellion for a while, but Cassian has never met one. He thinks Jedi are something you have to believe in to make the galaxy make sense. Maybe they never existed at all. They said a Jedi was the General in charge of the Republic battalion that battered his homeworld when he was a boy, sending wave after wave of same-faced men to fight the Separatists on their own land. Cassian has seen clones, and saw them laid out as identical corpses after the battle ended, but he never saw any Jedi. Perhaps they were all stories, from start to end, like the Ringerman and his terrible drowned bell in the spooky stories from his childhood. Behave, or the Ringerman will take you away to his underwater tomb. Keep your people in line, or the Jedi will come bomb your village.

It makes sense to say the first Fulcrum was an imaginary creature built of magic, who stepped briefly out of legend. A Fulcrum is built from lies, deceptions, and every lever that can be pulled to tilt the galaxy in the Alliance's favor. They are not real people. Spies in any war don't get buried under their own names, and their records are wiped by those that knew them.

They say, especially in the Rebellion, that the Jedi weren't all bad, or mostly bad, or anything like Cassian heard when he was young. They say the Jedi were teachers, healers, philosophers, and yes, they were warriors, taking up the cause of fighting against injustice. They say that's why the few Jedi who survived sided with the Alliance. The first Fulcrum wanted to bring balance and peace back to the galaxy.

Another myth, Cassian thinks.

"I don't believe in magic," he tells Kay one night. They are dug in to their position, waiting for the contact to join them, but she won't be there for another six hours at the earliest. It's the closest thing to a day off either of them have had in months.

K-2SO turns to Cassian and cocks his head. "Good," he replies in a tone that is part chiding and part questioning why the subject has come up. Ever since he was reborn as a Rebellion droid, he's had these personality quirks that other Rebels grumble about and that always make Cassian smile.

"I was thinking about Jedi."

Kay turns back to his lookout. "I used to have databanks with information on Jedi. I can still access them when I try." Kay doesn't like delving back into his Imperial files. He'll never say so, but Cassian understands he is worried that the AI who comes back after the internal search might not be him.

Cassian doesn't want to push, but he's curious. "Why were you programmed with information about Jedi?"

"In case I encountered one. They were at the top of the Empire's Most Wanted List for quite some time. If a Jedi was located, I was to enact countermeasures based on my knowledge of their description."

"You were given a description?"

"I was programmed with an adjective." He looks at Cassian again. "'Flammable.'"

The Empire believes in Jedi. The Empire believes in them enough to keep eradicating every trace, like they do of everything else they hate.

They say that Darth Vader killed the first Fulcrum. They say he's a mighty sorcerer, and his magic was greater than hers. Cassian has heard too much about Vader to believe this. He doesn't need magic. His laser sword and Star Destroyers are more than enough to cut down his enemies.

"I don't buy it. If there was this great group of magicians who could use the Force for their own purposes, they could have stopped the Emperor."

"Yes," says Kay. "I'm sure that's why he got rid of them as soon as he could."

"Do you believe in the Force?" It's an odd question, but it's an odd night, just the two of them here in the darkness with no other obligations, and all the legends of the galaxy spinning inside his brain.

"I don't believe in anything," Kay tells him patiently. "Belief implies illogical thinking based on a lack of information and a desire for structure from chaos. I was programmed to know the Force exists, and some people can use it. Not you."

Cassian's eyebrows raise. "You don't think I'm a Jedi?"

"No, because if you were a Jedi, you'd have used the Force to get us out of that trouble on Klimnit, and out of that problem on Polestan, and out of that disaster on Galasis, and...."

"Fine, fine." Cassian chuckles. He doesn't laugh much these days. It feels good. Kay makes him laugh when everything else in his life makes him want to weep. "Neither of us is a Jedi."

"I didn't say I wasn't a Jedi. I said you weren't."

Cassian swallows his laugh this time. "You are not a Jedi, Kay."

"You don't know that. I might have lied to you about being an Imperial droid. Jedi can perform a mind trick to convince weak-minded people of many things."

"You're saying I'm not a Jedi, _and_ I'm weak-minded?"

Kay turns his away away. "As long as we're agreed."

Cassian lets out a sigh. He walked right into that one, and he knew it as soon as he did. Kay teases him better than anyone else he's ever known, but then, Kay knows him better than anyone else ever has.

Cassian is fine with teasing him back. "Explain to me again why I put up with you."

"In order of importance? Because you need me to infiltrate Imperial sites. You need me as your backup when your plans inevitably land you in some kind of trouble. You like having me around to talk to so you're not spending all your days talking to yourself. And of course, because you love me."

"Which end of that list was ranked as most important?"

Kay doesn't reply, only turns back to his watch.

Cassian doesn't push the issue. Instead, he settles closer to Kay, and he closes his eyes, and he relaxes, enjoying the company.


End file.
